


Let's Make a Deal

by uofmdragon



Series: Natasha: The Demon Slayer [14]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Buffyverse, Alternate Universe - College/University, Djinni & Genies, F/M, M/M, Watchers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:24:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uofmdragon/pseuds/uofmdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil's been offered a deal by Heimdall and Natasha has been offered a deal by Fury.  Now it's time for deals to be made.</p>
<p>All while Sitwell has another mission for them that may concern Tony's past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Make a Deal

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, I have Clint and someone else use sign. I know ASL has a completely different grammatical structure, so I just gave the translation between brackets [translated signs].

"Hey," Tony said, announcing his arrival into Sitwell's inner sanctum.  Somehow the man had found a secret passage that led to a room with ample space for practice.  Tony's arrival was a signal that the training could pause.

Natasha didn't lower her fists, keeping them up, just in case Sitwell decided to try for a sneak attack.  "Hi Tony."

Jasper glanced over at him.  "Mr. Stark."

"I got coffee."  Tony paused. "No Coulson?"

"Not yet," Natasha said, risking a quick glance.  "I figured he had class."

"Well, he wasn't in the section for Art History," Tony replied.

"Was he supposed to be?" Natasha asked, turning to give him a look.

Tony looked at her.  "Well, I may have hacked his schedule.  I can't do this art history shit without someone I know and Clint…" Tony sighed.  "Clint laughs every time I ask, not that I've seen him since New Years to ask again. Pepper and Rhodey already took it, so Phil…"

"Really?" Natasha repeated arching an eyebrow.  She glanced back at Sitwell when she heard him muttering under his breath, his hand was over his eyes. She glanced back at Tony and grinned at him. 

Tony nodded.  "He was supposed to be there, but he was a no show.  I thought, he might be sick?"

"I don't know.  I barely know my schedule this semester," Natasha admitted.  "I haven't seen him since yesterday."

Tony hummed softly, before pulling out his phone.  "So what's on the agenda for today, Sitwell?  Besides watching Natasha train, because she gets angry when I leer to long."

"I actually have something that might interest you, Stark," Jasper said.

Natasha arched an eyebrow as she looked at him.

"Oh?" Tony sounded curious.

"A Djinn."

Natasha frowned.  "What's that?"

"Creature of the desert, it's said they can ride the wind."

Natasha glanced back up to see that Tony had paled.  "Is it…?"

"Does it matter?" Sitwell asked.  "It's a demon, it needs to be dealt with."

"Guess not," Tony agreed.  "But I'd love a shot at that one and his own clan or whatever you want to call it."

"Then we'll handle it," Natasha agreed with a nod.  "Just need to give us the information."

"Well, I guess, we could, unless you want to wait for Mr. Coulson," Sitwell said.

"He's not answering his phone," Tony said, sliding his own into his pocket.

"Let's get started, I can catch Phil up," Natasha said.  She followed as Sitwell moved over to his desk.  When Tony came to stand next to her, she pulled the cup of coffee out of the carton that he offered her, setting the remaining cup on the desk.  Natasha tried not to let it distract her, but Phil not answering his phone was unusual.

-

"Darcy!" Clint called as he opened up the door to the old house.  He reached up, starting to undo the straps of his uniform.  He probably should have been paying better attention, because he glanced up and had a split second to get his arms up as Darcy engulfed him in a hug.

Darcy squeezed tight and Clint wrapped his arms around her.  He couldn't make out what she was saying, muttering straight into his chest.  Then she pulled away and punched his shoulder.  "Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick about you!"

"Sorry Darce," Clint said.  "I had a thing I had to do and…"  Clint trailed off as he realized that Darcy was no longer paying attention to him, but instead taking in Steve who was also peeling out of his armor to reveal a sculpted body.

Darcy turned to look at him again.  "Clint, who is your handsome new friend?"

Clint grinned, moving into the house, because the others had to be finished getting their gear.  "Darcy, this is Steve, he's a Slayer."

"Oh," Darcy said.  "WHAT?!"

Clint glanced back to see Steve wincing and looking at Darcy alarmed.  Clint chuckled to himself.  There was another screech as Darcy spotted Bobbi and Jess, she was going to be happy to have her kin here.  He tossed his jacket and headed for the stairs, so he could stow his gear.  He'd let Bobbi and Jess explain things to Darcy and let her interrogate Steve.  He was a big boy, he could handle Darcy.  

The stairs turned as they went up, so he spotted Steve following him. Clint turned to look at him.  "You following me?"

"Tired actually, hoping to bed down and then try this school thing again." Steve replied, giving him a crooked grin.

"Did you have a class scheduled today?" Clint asked.

"I don't think so," Steve said.  He frowned.  "I should check the schedule you gave me.  What should I do if I missed one?"

"Email the professor, say you got food poisoning."

Steve nodded.

"You remember how to email, right?" 

Steve glared.  "I believe so, you'll be there to help, if I need it, right?"

Clint smiled and nodded.  "Of course."

Steve smiled at him, before gesturing for him to get a move on.  Clint turned and went up the stairs to the top floor.  A hand landed on his shoulder when he reached the top floor.  Clint turned to look at Steve.  "Can I take the same room?"

"I think Jess and Bobbi slept in the magic rooms, so I think so.  It's just the five of us, right now and with Jess and Bobbi back.  Darcy might go live with Jane instead of Jane living here...."  Clint shrugged.

"Does Jane know about…?" Steve gestured.

Clint hesitated.  "She knows she doesn't know everything, but I don't know Jane well enough to know exactly what she knows and I never quizzed Darcy on it."

Steve nodded and turned toward the other bedroom.  Both of them had gone for the rooms on the third floor of the house.  There were only two up there.  Clint entered his own room and closed the door.  He put his uniform away, checking it over for any damage. There thankfully wasn't any, because he wasn't sure how to repair this one if there was any damage. Short of going to beg Janet for help and he still wasn't sure who'd betrayed him.

Sighing, Clint made his way over to his stereo and cranked it up until he could feel the vibrations as he tried to figure out what to do next.  
-

"Gimme a lift," Natasha asked as they left Sitwell's space in the library.

Tony blinked in surprise at her, before glancing out the windows. "Yeah, I guess it's really coming down out there."

"Exactly," Natasha lied.  She didn't need the lift, but she wanted an excuse to leave with Tony and have Tony as back up when she went to talk to Phil.  She hoped he did have a class and had forgotten to mention it, but that was unlikely.  He would have texted.  She was sure of that.  No, something was not right and they needed to find Phil.  Maybe he'd gotten sick, she hoped that was the case.

Natasha tugged her coat around her as they stepped outside.  The wind had already started picking up.  She trailed after Tony as he led her to his car.  The lights flashed as they neared it and Natasha glanced at Tony to see him grinning at her.

"You're not the only person with a key fob," Natasha pointed out as she opened the door to toss her bag into the back.

"Helps you find the car," Tony pointed out.

"Do you not remember what your car looks like?"

"Sometimes." Tony smirked.  "Especially when I change cars."

Natasha rolled her eyes, but climbed in.

Tony climbed in and started the car up, before pulling out of the parking lot.  Once they were on the street.  "So worried about Phil?"

"Yeah. He's never gone radio silent like this."

"Doesn't strike me as a Phil thing to do.  I've got some gear in the car…"

Natasha nodded.  "If it's discreet bring it, if it's not… put it in a bag."

"Will do," Tony agreed as they neared the dorm.  Tony found a place to park the car and Natasha slid out.  She grabbed her bag and lingered, waiting for Tony to be ready.

"Straight to Phil's room?" Tony asked as he grabbed stuff.

"Yeah." Natasha looked over the building.  Nothing seemed out of place. 

The car honked and Natasha glanced at Tony, who nodded at her.  They headed in and directly to Phil's room.  She glanced over at Tony, who was looking at the door.  "Do you sense anything?"

"Just Phil?  Nothing else though."

Natasha regarded the door, before going and knocking on it.  "Phil?"

"Tasha?" Phil's voice sounded rough.  The door opened a few seconds later and Natasha almost took a step back.  Phil looked rough, there were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was sticking up at odd angles.  It looked like he hadn't shaved this morning.

"Whoa," Tony stated.

"You okay?" Natasha asked. 

Phil glanced between them and looked downward.  "Just a little tired?"

"That's it?" Natasha asked, arching an eyebrow.

Phil bit his lip.  "I, may have done something stupid."

Natasha frowned. "How stupid?"

"Really?" Phil sighed.  "Why don't you come in."  He stepped back and opened the door.  Natasha entered, glancing around the room to see printouts spread throughout the room.  She frowned as realized that none of the papers were in English, none of them were language she even recognized. 

Natasha took Bruce's chair and Tony flopped down on Bruce's bed as Phil closed the door.  

"What did you do?" Natasha asked, eying Phil.

"I… I think I kind of made a deal with a demon."

"You what?!" Natasha was on her feet.  "How could you?! When?!"

"There was a demon in my room last night.  He offered to give me a gift, if I'd be your actual Watcher."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Heimdall said that the Watchers have been corrupted.  As in Asgard as on Earth."

"Tell me you at least got Hawkeye to verify this guy?"

"I haven't been able to get in touch with him. But I remember him mentioning that there used to be a patron for the Watchers' group and…  the demon, Heimdall, fit the bill.  I know it was a risk,, but…  We needed information, which I couldn't get."

"Uh, question," Tony asked. Natasha turned to look at him.  "What exactly was this gift."

"All-speak, he called it.  I can read any language basically. I've been reading the Watcher's records."

"That it?" Tony asked.

"Some strength and durability for fighting," Phil added.  "I don't feel that different though."  He paused waiting for Natasha to look at him.  "I know it was stupid, but I had to.  We needed to know and this was the only way.  I'd say I'm sorry, but it worked."

Natasha hesitated, before reaching over and pulling Phil into a hug. "Don't do it again. Not without talking to me first."

"Okay." Phil's hand gently landed on her back.

They clung to each other for a moment, before Natasha felt another set of arms wrap around them.  "I promise not to do anything super stupid either.'

Natasha huffed a laugh, before pushing both of them away from her.  She returned to her seat and waited for both of them to settle in their own seats.  "So what have you found?"

"According to the Watchers, Slayers have had allies in the past, both human and Asgardian."

Natasha took a deep breath and then nodded.

"So we need to talk to hammer guy?" Tony suggested.

Natasha shook her head.  "I talked to him last night."

"Was I the only one that didn't do something stupid last night," Tony muttered to himself.

Natasha arched an eyebrow as she looked at him.  "Should we ask Rhodey about that one?"

Tony glared at her, before gesturing that she could continue.

"Thor's an Asgardian demon and says that he was cast out of the court.  There was another demon, Fury, he wanted to make a deal with Thor and I."

Tony shook his head.  "Man, they like their deals."

"It involved you two, so I thought I'd better get your opinions."

Phil's hand lifted slightly.  "I've actually met Fury, he's worked with Hawkeye."

Natasha blinked.  "Friends?"

Phil shrugged. "It was a deal between the two, sounds like they mostly dealt in deals."

"Thor will train me, Fury will find teachers for you two as well. We'll free some of Thor's friends that the enemy are holding hostage.  Fury will find them for us. One of us has to keep Fury updated with stories," Natasha said, keeping the main bulletpoints.

"Yeah," Phil tilted back in his chair. "Hawkeye told a tale to get Fury's help and introduced him as a story collector, actually."

Natasha nodded. "So, what do you guys want to do?"

"We can't tell Sitwell, not until we're sure whose side he's on," Tony pointed out.

Phil nodded slowly.  "If he thinks I can understand this old stuff, he's cut my access."

"What about Fury's deal," Natasha asked.

"I'm leaning toward yes," Tony admitted.  "If Sitwell is corrupt or hell, someone above him is, then we're screwed when it comes to proper training."

Phil nodded.  "I'm with Tony, but if you don't want to, then it's a no.  You're the Slayer, you're the leader."

"We'll go talk to Thor as a group," Natasha said slowly, nodding her head. "Hopefully Fury will be there."

Both of the nodded, but it was Phil that gestured with his hand.  "When?"

"We'll go on Saturday, it's probably going to be the only time during the week for training.  We've got class in the morning and he's got a bar to run in the evening and apparently..." Natasha smirked.  "I'm bad for business."

Phil chuckled, before yawning.  "I should…"

"Get some sleep," Natasha stated.  Tony took the hint to stand up.

"There's some research…"

"Sleep," Natasha stated.  "I'm the Slayer, I'm the leader, remember?"

Phil smiled, but nodded.  Tony slipped out of the room while Natasha waited for Phil to safely make it to his loft bed, before turning out the lights behind and walking out.  Tony was waiting in the hallway for her.

"You know the Djinn, Sitwell mentioned."

Natasha nodded.

"I think that's his way of making me indebted to him."

"Why?"

"Long story, but…" Tony's glanced away.  "One that needs to be told, so Sunday?"

"Sunday?" Natasha repeated.

"We normally do dinner at my place.  You guys should come this week."

"Sure," Natasha agreed.  "Five?"

"Better make it four."

Natasha nodded.  "We'll be there."

*

Some part of Phil hated being grateful to Stark, but the other man had at least arranged to have an email from Phil stating that he had food poisoning as his reason for missing class into his TA's spambox with a time stamp from yesterday.  Something that Tony had texted him about early in the morning to wake him up and get him moving.

Natasha had arrived at his door fifteen minutes later to drag Phil down to breakfast and get him to class when the pages he'd printed off were calling to him.  Still by the time that Phil wandered into art history, he was pretty happy with his friends and just maybe Tony was deserving of that title too.

"Here," Tony said, announcing his arrival and setting a stapled copy of notes, an external hardrive, and a jump drive.

"What's all this?" Phil asked, looking over at him

"Notes from yesterday's discussion group, I tracked down one of the others, because my notes were horrible," Tony replied as he started digging into his bag.  "Harddrive is for you to download whatever you can from the Watcher's Network and the jump drive is for the Natasha Chronicles…"

"Natasha Chronicles?" Phil asked.

"We'll work on the name, but you're supposed to be her Watcher, right?"  Tony paused, glancing at him.

Phil nodded.

"So, start recording or whatever," Tony replied, going back to his bag.  

"Why…?" Phil started.

"Notes, because you'll need them, especially if you're going to help me.  Harddrive, because you've practically killed a forest already.  Jump drive, because it's more secure than a notebook or tome or whatever you want to call it."

"Sure about that?" 

"Yeah, I encrypted both the harddrive and the jumpdrive.  All you need is to set the password." 

Phil nodded. "Thanks Tony."

Tony flashed him a grin and Phil tucked the harddrive and jumpdrive into his bag.  He pulled the notes over and started reviewing it.  Tony munching on something next to him.  Most of the notes were expectations of the class and due dates for assignments.

"Phil," Tony hissed.

Phil glanced up to find Tony holding up a dorito.  "It's a dorito."

"But hot guy," Tony hissed.  

Phil glanced past the dorito to find the blond from the from the first class, standing up and talking to the professor.  He leaned over to get Tony's angle and found that the shoulder to hip ratio of the hot blond guy was similar to a dorito.  Phil huffed softly.

"Dorito," Tony stated and Phil had the idea that a nickname had just been bestowed upon the man.  Phil almost felt sorry for him, but he'd probably never hear the nickname.  The hot blond took a seat and class began.

Phil pushed Slaying and Doritos out of his mind and concentrated on what the professor was saying.  He took notes as the professor taught and concentrated on making sense of what he was saying.  He lost track of the time until the professor ended the class.  Phil slowly packed up his stuff and said goodbye to Tony as the went their separate ways.  He paused as he caught sight of a familiar figure in the hallway.  Phil took off after it.

"Clint!" Phil called after him.  

Clint ignored him, not even hesitating.

Phil hurried after him, calling after him as he got closer, but Clint didn't slow until he came shoulder to shoulder with the hot blond.  Phil watched as Clint casually elbowed the blond and caught sight of the blond's surprise turning into a happy look.  Phil came to a stop and was immediately jostled from behind as he watched the two turn in sync with one another to head outside.

Sighing, Phil turned in the other direction and headed toward his next class. He'd talk to Clint some other time.

-

Natasha smiled as she packed up her things from her class.  She needed to get the library to meet up with Sitwell, who'd been doing research into Tony's djinn, who Tony wasn't sure it was his, but also wasn't sure if it wasn't.  

"Man, this class is rough," James said, his stuff already packed up.  

Natasha smiled.  "But it's important to our future classes."

James glowered.  "Yeah, I suppose so."

"You doing the homework?"

James nodded.  "I don't suppose, you'd like to get together and go over it though. It's been awhile since I've had a math class."

Natasha blinked.  "Sure."

"How about Saturday?"

Natasha shook her head.  "My weekend is packed.  How about Monday before class?"

"Only if I can buy you lunch then. Say 11?"

Natasha hesitated.  "Sure. Where?"

They got up and headed out the auditorium. "How about the Underground?  Then we have options."

James turned to look over his shoulder to smile at her.  "Great, it's a date."

"Yeah," Natasha agreed, before turning to head in the other direction.  She smiled to herself as she ducked down the hall to take the walkway over to the library.  Tony was waiting for her at the entrance.

"What's with the smile?" Tony asked as she approached.

"I'm not smiling," Natasha stated, forcing herself to stop.

"You were."  Tony narrowed his eyes. "Something happened, something good?"

"Nothing happened."

"I don't believe you," 

"Well, too bad." Natasha glanced around and caught sight of Phil.  "Phil!"

"Don't think you're off the hook about this," Tony murmured to her.

Natasha smirked, but frowned as she noted Phil's expression.  "What's the matter."

"It's nothing." Phil said.

"Bullshit."

"I just, I got the brush off from Barton."

Tony's eyes narrowed.  "You saw Clint?"

"Briefly, he was talking to the…"

"Dorito?"

Natasha looked at Tony, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah," Phil agreed.

Natasha turned her look to Phil, because seriously, Phil had understood that.

"So how'd you get the brush off?" Tony asked.

"I saw him in the hall, I called out to him, he ignored me."

"Did he hear you?"

Phil paused, before nodding.  "There was no way he couldn't have heard me."

Tony frowned. "Maybe he didn't though. Just… I know it's hard, but just give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Has he…" Phil started.

"I haven't seen him or talked to him since the party." Tony frowned.  "Sorry, Phil.  But hey, Natasha has some good news."

Phil turned to look at her.  "You have good news?"

"I have no news."

"She was smiling, secretive small smile, but refuses to talk about it." Tony looked at Phil.  "I saw we pester her until she spills."

Phil regarded her, before looking back at Tony.  "You're on your own."

Natasha smiled at Phil.  "That's why you're my favorite."  

Tony made a noise, which Natasha ignored. "Come on, Sitwell is waiting."  She headed toward Sitwell's area of the library, confident that Phil and Tony fell into step with behind her.  She spotted the watcher at his desk and leaned into his office.  "Hey Sitwell."

"Ms. Romanov," Sitwell stated, looking up.  "Gentleman.  Why don't you come on in, I've got some more information about the djinn.  It's going to be nearby this weekend, I think you should take it out."

Natasha glanced to the guys, who were looking at her.  She took a seat on a two drawer filing cabinet.  "Tell us what you've got."

-

Phil looked through the binoculars at the warehouse that housed the djinn. He shook his head.  It was early on Saturday morning and they'd had to get up early to get there.  "I don't like this."

"There's a lot of them," Natasha agreed.

"Are they all demons or humans that don't realize they're working for demons?" Tony asked.

"There's a lot of demonic power. I can feel it, but I can't tell from this distance…" Natasha stated.

"Mostly demons," a quiet voice said.  "None of the humans are what you'd call good."

Phil stiffened, glancing around.  "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tony asked, turning to look at him. 

Natasha turned to look at him as well.  

"Someone just said that it's mostly demons, but the humans aren't good either," Phil said, looking around the car.

"No one said that," Tony said slowly.

"I did, to your right, I'm on the headrest."

Phil turned, looking and finally spotting a tiny spider on the headrest. "Huh?"

"Phil?"

"No squashing?" the voice seemed to come from the spider.

Phil held out his finger to the spider. "No squashing."

The spider climbed on and Phil turned, so that Natasha and Tony could see it.

"It's talking."

"It's a spider," Tony stated.

Natasha's eyes narrowed. "There's something there, but it's small?"

"I'm not that big," the spider stated.

"One of Fury's?" Phil asked.

"I am."

"One of Fury's," Phil repeated.  "I guess it's a spy."  He ignored the little snort.

"How are you speaking to it?" Tony asked.

"The all-speak," Natasha and the spider said together.

Phil smiled, before looking at the spider.  "Is the djinn there?"

"No."

"Nearby?"

"No.  Tomorrow sometime."

Phil looked at his friends.  "The Djinn isn't there and isn't supposed to be there until tomorrow."

"Do we trust the spider?" Tony asked, looking at Natasha.

"Let's do so for now.  We need to go to the _Mug_."

The others nodded and Tony started up the car.  Phil twisted to set the spider on the back of the seat.  He hesitated.  "Are all spiders intelligent?"

"No, only a few. There are magical creatures that are intelligent, but not all of them." 

Phil nodded, relieved.  He had been planning on asking about animals as well, if they all were going to be able to talk to him, he was going to have become a vegetarian. 

-

Natasha stepped into the _The Broken Mug_ and found Thor waiting for them. 

"Ah, Mr. Stark, your private dining room has been prepared to your specifications," Thor said as a greeting.

Tony hesitated behind her.  "Excellent, shall we head on back."

"Of course," Thor led them down a hallway and into another room.  "Close the door."

Natasha glanced behind her to see that Phil did so.

"Have you all seen Harry Potter?" Thor asked.

"Yes," Phil said as Tony nodded.

"Consider this Platform 7 ¾," Thor said.

Natasha looked at Tony and Phil.  "You guys going to tell me what that means?"

"Hidden door," Phil said.  "Do we need to take it at a run?"

"If you want," Thor said.

Phil nodded and strode forward, disappearing into the wall.  Natasha glanced at Tony and gestured for him to follow.  Natasha looked at Thor.  "You knew we were coming?"

"Fury's web told us," Thor explained.  "He's on the other side with your friends."

Natasha nodded and smiled, before stepping through the wall.  She found Fury there, staring at Phil.

"So…?" Natasha started.  "We've considered the deal."

"I'm making changes," Fury stated.

"We haven't even given you our counter offer," Tony pointed out.

"I want stories from the one gifted by The Watcher," Fury said, turning to look at them.

"You want continuous stories, we want continuous information," Phil replied.  "You clearly have a network.  Sitwell is going to give us missions, we're going to come here for more information, if you give it to us, we'll tell you about it."

"And if I don't have it?" Fury asked.  "Besides I'm offering instructors for you two."

"We'll make our own deal with them," Phil stated.  "For the introduction, I'll tell you about three of our adventures so far.."

"All of them."

Phil snorted. "Not a chance. We might need some other bargain in the future, so I'm not giving you everything."

"Fine, 75% of what you record into your Chronicles."

"33%"

"Fifty."

"Deal," Phil said, offering his hand.

Fury shook his hand, before looking at Thor.  

Natasha smiled, looking back at Thor.  "You'll train me and we'll do what we can to save your friends.  That deal stays the same."

"Agreed," Thor said, nodding.  "Shall we begin?"

"No, I'll wait until Tony and Phil's instructors are here."

"Who said they aren't?" Fury asked as two women stepped into view.

One was a chinese woman that walked straight up to Phil.  "I think I like you already."

"Phil, this is Melinda May, she's an expert at hand to hand combat," Fury said. "Tony, this Wanda."

"She's a little young," Tony remarked.

"I'm a bit more experienced than you," Wanda stated.  "For instance…"  She made a gesture that ended in a fist as Tony gasped and paled.  "Your shields are rather weak…"

"Okay, point taken," Tony said.

Wanda opened her hand and color slowly returned to Tony.

"You're forgetting we have deals to make," Melinda said.

"What do you want?" Phil asked.

Melinda eyed them.  "Vengence."

Natasha arched an eyebrow.  "We need more information…"

"I don't have much. My partner was taken out, I barely escaped with my life, when the time comes, I want help eliminating them.  The Slayer is making a similar deal with Thor."

Phil looked over at Natasha and Tony.  Natasha considered it.  "Only if it doesn't interfere with what we're doing at the time.  There's an enemy out there."

Melinda stared at Natasha.  "And if you think they aren't connected, then you're mistaken."

Natasha nodded.

Phil looked back at Melinda.  "Deal."

Melinda took his hand and shook it.

Tony looked at Wanda.  "And you?"

"You're a Stark, you have money?"

Tony nodded.

"An education."

"I'm sorry?" Natasha asked.

"You'll pay for my college and if something happens to me, you pay for my brother's."

"I'll pay for eight semesters of a full-term, no going over the maximum number of hours.  You…"

"You pay for the books, the price of a dorm and a meal plan."

Phil shook his head.  "No scholarship gives that much. Room and board are on your own, Tony will rent digital books. If you want hardcopies you pay the difference."

Wanda eyed them, before nodding.  "Deal."

"Now that that's settled," Melinda stated.  "Shall we get to work?"

"This place has three rooms off of it." Thor said.  "You'll each find what you need for learning.  Slayer, if you'll follow me."

Natasha nodded, following after him.  She paused at the doorway and looked Fury.  "We need information about the Djinn. One of your spiders know what we're talking about."

"I'll get on it," Fury agreed.

-

Phil flopped on Tony's bed, not really caring that this was his first time in Stark's apartment, but also his bedroom. Natasha took the desk chair, putting her feet up on the desk. Tony's bed was soft and comfortable, something that Phil wasn't too surprised to find and frankly, he was exhausted.  

Melinda had worked him over yesterday, testing what he did know, and then had moved immediately into training him.  Phil had a feeling that the only reason he was able to make it back to his apartment was due to the increased endurance gifted by Heimdall.

Afterwards, they'd sat and discussed what Fury knew about the djinn.  It wasn't much, but Tony had listened with rapt attention. The warehouse had guards and getting the the djinn was going to be a fight. Wanda and Melinda had listened in and offered their advice, but had not offered to go along with them nor had they asked them.  Phil was fairly sure that their help would mean another deal and they weren't ready for that yet.

"So djinns," Natasha said.  "What do you know?"

"One of them kidnapped me over the summer," Tony stated, leaning against the wall.

"Kidnapped you?" Phil said, rolling to sit up.

"Yeah, it didn't get out.  I don't know if he wanted money or what, but I was… I don't know, cursed, maybe?" Tony said. He hesitated, before lifting up his shirt to show a stone centered in his upper chest.  "Whatever I was, this is keeping me alive.  There's power in it, and, thanks to Wanda, shielded a lot better."  

Phil felt his eyes widened.  "So what's it doing?"

"Keeping the curse at bay or whatever they tried to do to me," Tony said, dropping the shirt.  "I'm a little fuzzy on the details, part of why I started looking into the whole magic thing.  My undershirts have runes sewn into them to hide its presence."

"Who knows about it?" Natasha asked.

"Rhodey, he's the one that does the sewing," Tony admitted.  "Clint and Pepper know, too. I… I guess, Clint has some connections from his pre-high school days that looked it over."

Phil arched an eyebrow.  "Clint knows about this stuff?"

Tony nodded.  "I can't talk about Clint's connections."

Natasha paused.  "Is he safe?"

"As far as I know."

"Tony! You home?" Rhodey's voice came down the hall.

"Yeah, we're in my room," Tony called after him.

The door opened and Rhodey peered into the room.  His eyes landed on Natasha, before sighing.  "I don't want to know." He paused.  "Clint's here, by the way."  

"Oh, he's alive?" Tony asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he's working on dinner," Rhodey said.  "I'm going to go help."

Tony nodded and Rhodey left the room.

"How much does Rhodey know?" Natasha asked.

"Only that they're still after me and willing to go through him.  He also knows enough that he doesn't really want to be involved."

Phil nodded, glancing back at the door. Clint was out there and he really did want to talk to him.  He didn't understand what had happened. 

"Phil, go talk to him," Natasha said.

"What?" Phil asked, looking at her.

"Go talk to Clint."

"Yeah, Coulson, go talk to Barton," Tony added.  "I'll get Natasha filled in on my story.  Besides what you don't know, you can't record.  We can use it as a bargaining chip for Fury later."

"Good point," Phil agreed, rolling off the bed to head back into the kitchen.

Clint and Rhodey were busily chopping up vegetables.

"What are we having?" Phil asked.

Rhodey turned to look at him and a moment later, Clint glanced at him.

"Stir fry," Rhodey said.

"Can I help?" Phil offered.

"We got it, Coulson," Clint stated.  "Not enough room for a third person and not enough knives."

"You sure?" Phil asked.

Clint nodded, turning back to his chopping.

Phil hesitated, before looking at Rhodey.  "We got this, Phil, go hang with Tony and Natasha."

Phil hesitated, glancing at Clint again.  He didn't want to leave without talking to Clint, but…

"Something the matter, Coulson?" Barton asked.

"Yeah, I… I actually wanted to talk to you."

Clint glanced over at Rhodey and Rhodey tilted his head toward Phil.  Clint set his knife down.  "Sure, Coulson. We can use Rhodey's room."

"No hankey-pankey in my room," Rhodey stated.

Clint didn't respond to Rhodey's teasing, but led the way out of the kitchen to the other end of the apartment to Rhodey's room.  He closed the door behind him.  "What's up?"

"I was wondering about New Year's," Phil said.  "I…"

"We got drunk, we had sex," Clint replied.  "What's there to wonder about?"

" You…. You said you knew there'd be fireworks between us," Phil pointed out. "You thought about us."

Clint stared at him. "So?  Are you forgetting that you don't like me that much?"

Phil hesitated.  "Maybe, I…"

Clint held out his finger as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Maybe I'm not so sure about that and want to see if there is something between us," Phil said, but Clint didn't look up.

"I gotta go," Clint said, looking back at him.  "Something has come up at the house."

"But Clint…" Phil started.

"We can talk again later," Clint said.  "Sorry, Phil."

Phil stared as he turned and left the room. "Clint!"  

Clint paused and looked at him.  "I gotta go, I'm sorry."

He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.  "What the hell?"

He walked out of the room and headed to Tony's bedroom.  Natasha arched an eyebrow at her entrance.  "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Phil said.  "Do we have a plan for tonight?"

Natasha nodded.  "Yeah, we were working on it."

"Let's hear it," Phil said, pushing Clint Barton out of his mind.

-

Natasha glanced the others and they shared a nod with one another.  Together they moved toward the warehouse, trying to keep to the shadows.  She frowned as the she realized the demonic power was significantly reduced.  

Natasha led the way up a fire escape ladder with Phil just behind her and Tony after him.  Together they slipped into a window.  There wasn't any noise coming from inside the factory.  Natasha felt her skin prickle as they peered into the empty spaces.

"Is that… blood?" Phil asked, pointing to a puddle.

Natasha sniffed, she could smell the excess of iron in the air.  "Yeah, I think it is."

"Something's wrong," Tony said.  

Natasha nodded in agreement.  Together they headed more inside. Natasha signaled for them to stop as she looked a bit more closely at a pile of dust.  "Demon dust."

"Someone has already been here?" Tony asked.

"It's starting to look like it," Natasha said, glancing back at Phil.

"Hawkeye couldn't have done this by himself," Phil said.

Natasha reluctantly nodded.  He couldn't have done this by himself, but what if he'd found himself some allies.

They started moving through the warehouse at a faster pace.  They didn't find anyone or anything left alive, all that was left were piles of dust.  Together they left the warehouse, confused as to what had happened.

-

Clint smiled as he handed over his paperwork to the receptionist, before turning to find Rhodey standing between him and the waiting room.

Clint sighed.  "How'd you know?"

"Normally, you call, but you've been avoiding the phone recently," Rhodey said.  "And when I used the term hankey-pankey and you didn't react, well…."

"You said hankey-pankey?" Clint asked.

Rhodey nodded. "Take a seat?" 

Clint nodded and they headed to the waiting room, taking seats across from one another.

Rhodey looked at him and started signing to him. [What happened to your old hearing aids?]

[Long story] Clint signed back.  He didn't really want to get into it with Rhodey.

Rhodey leveled a look at him.

Clint considered, before replying.  "I got hit with a Magical EMP."

Rhodey blinked.  [And it broke them permanently] "No chance of resetting them?"

Clint shook his head. [If I were here maybe]

Rhodey looked confused. [You weren't? Where?]

Clint shook his head as he signed. [You don't want to know]

Rhodey gave him a pointed look.

"It had to do with you moving the tree."

Rhodey stared at him, before sighing softly. 

[Sorry]

Rhodey studied him for a long moment.  [I hit Tony's friend account.  Let us help]

Clint felt his eyes widen and he smiled. [Tony will want to experiment on a second pair?]

Rhodey nodded.

Clint nodded.  [Okay].  He hesitated, before he signed.  [Thanks for coming.]

[I know you can do it alone, but I think you'd rather have someone here for you]

Clint nodded, holding out his fist.

Rhodey laughed and reached out to bump Clint's fist.  He should have known that he'd never be able to fool Rhodey.


End file.
